I have a new piece titled "Acquisition" in tonight's "Blab Show" opening at Copro Gallery. You can see a preview of the show Here.

Below are some work in progress shots, some recent time lapse videos, as well as the process vid that was posted here previously. For those not already familiar with my technique and process here are my basic steps for creating a piece of art. They may seem very obvious, but every now and then I'll catch myself skipping a step and usually end up paying for it down the road.

1. Thumbnails- Do at least ten of these. Try not to get caught up in details. These are about composition, flow, and getting your creative juices going. Every now and then my first sketch ends up being the best sketch. But most of the time my first ideas tend to be the most predictable and contrived.

2. Refined drawing- I think much of people's style and influences tend to come out when they are drawing out of their head. I try to maintain some of the freshness that comes in a nice sketch. That said, my finals lie somewhere between my refined drawings and my photo reference.

3. Value study/ color comp- Again, these steps are invaluable in catching and correcting flaws early on and refining your composition and value structure. Of course they also give you a sense of what direction you want your lighting to come from for your photo shoot.

4. Reference- I put a lot of stress on taking photo reference. My work as a student jumped significantly when I started taking my own photo reference. If your working on something architectural or a fantastic creature try creating a maquette and taking photo reference of it. It makes things a lot easier when you actually see how light is bleeding through a translucent object or reflecting off of some shape and lighting the underside of someone's face.